The Alternative to Widening Highway 1

Foster favors an immediate development of a bike and pedestrian path along the corridor, and planning towards a future electric trolley. “Electrified public transit is the way of the future, not only to avoid toxic diesel exhaust, but to have a resilient transportation system in place when oil shortages hit.”

Foster will be joined by members of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation, which is engaged in a lawsuit of CalTrans to stop the next phase of Highway One widening, the 1-mile segment between Morrissey and Soquel Ave. exits. The CalTrans environmental study issued a “negative declaration” on the segment, claiming the project has no significant environmental impacts. The Campaign for Sensible Transportation points out that in 2004, 65% of Santa Cruz voters rejected Measure J, a sales tax measure to fund Highway expansion from Santa Cruz to Aptos. The Campaign maintains that the 1-mile segment is part of the larger highway widening project. The Campaign’s lawsuit seeks to enforce state law that says a large project cannot be broken down into segments in order to avoid a full environmental impact report.